Create Something New Every Day

Create Something New Everyday

Many, many years ago my friend Mike Perschon introduced me to Seventh Son: The tales of Alvin Maker volume one, a fiction book by Orson Scott Card. I really enjoyed the whole series but it was the first few books that truly captured my imagination. 

In the series, which is set in an alternative history American frontier where magic is a normal part of the world. Alvin Maker is a Seventh Son of a Seventh Son which according to the books gives him incredible powers for good if he chooses to use them. Ultimately Alvin has one major powerful enemy called the Unmaker who exists to destroy everything that the almighty creator has made. When Alvin makes things he seems to find success over the workings of the Unmaker. That struck me as profound while reading the books. 

This is kind of true for us, our God is the ultimate creator, therefore we honour him when we use our gifts and talents to create. Many times the things we build, create or make feel small and insignificant. I wonder if that’s because we don’t think that what we create has any merit or value. 

Now, consider this… 

What if that thought is a lie directly from the Unmaker so that we will stop building and creating and making so that he can have dominion? What if everything we build although seemingly small and insignificant is actually destroying his turf, his territory, his hold on our lives?

What if all we needed to do to keep the Destroyer of Worlds at Bay is to make something new everyday? Would you then see value and merit and substance in the pursuit of your own creativity? 

Would you then strive, not for completion or even perfection, but would you instead seek to start something new and beautiful everyday? What if those small starts would lead to epic new creations that build upon each other to create a masterpiece that would not have existed if you had stopped after the first thing you created that didn’t quite feel right? 

My friend Erik McRitchie has an amazing photo of a cabin beside a lake at the bottom of a majestic mountain. There is a small light in the window and there is just enough light in the scene to show reflections in the water and stars in the night sky. It looks like a painting but it’s a photo that Erik took with his camera. 

When I asked Erik about it he said, “Everyone thinks photography is so simple you just see the perfect photo and take it. What no one sees is that particular photo was taken at 1 am on a -35ºC night in the mountains. I had to wait for all the clouds to clear, get all geared up and wait in the freezing dark to shoot it. We take a thousand photos to get that one perfect shot. Creating magic is actually a lot of hard work.”

Many professional authors give themselves a goal of writing a certain number of words per day. Some painters will paint a new sunrise or sunset day in and day out. A carpenter will drive a nail, or shape a piece of wood. A sculptor might carve muscles in clay or chisel an eye out of stone. A musician writes, records, and edits his songs to get them just right. 

When creators create, I believe God laughs with pride and joy and calls his angels over to show them all what his creations are making. 

…and the Unmaker waits for the day when the artists finally listen to the lies and stop creating beauty in the world. 

I pray that day will never come.